Idli, dosa bandis face heat of split

Hyderabad: The impending bifurcation is affecting people at the grassroots level in least expected ways. Take the example of Prahlad Yadav,  whose dosa bandi is now a name common in every household not just in Siddiamber Bazaar, but also across the city.

As he proudly announces his 110 varieties of dosa, 11 varieties each of idlis and vadas that have been winning many hearts for over a decade now, he is worried that his means of livelihood is going to get hit badly.

“Our business has been very low for the last three months. We would get anywhere between 700-800 customers every day, which has now decreased to almost half. Since the debate on the state’s bifurcation has started, we have seen a decrease in the number of people who visit our place. And adding to it is the price rise, because of which we did cut down a little on production costs,” Yadav said.

Having been an integral part of the city for more than three decades now, many idli and dosa bandi stalls across the city like Yadav’s are facing the heat as a result of bifurcation. Specially the famous ones in the city at the Punjagutta Junction, Necklace Road, Lower Tank Bund, LB Nagar, Abids, Film Nagar etc.

In some cases, the owners of these stalls are forced to pay mamools to police, corporators or just random intruders who verbally abuse them, whereas customers at a few places look down on them and speak to them in a harsh tone because they don’t belong to a certain region. They thus confess that they are also having thoughts about moving out.

Madhu Babu, fondly called ‘Babai,’ the owner of Rama Villa Tiffin Stall in Dilsukhnagar, had moved from Vijayawada 21 years ago and has been serving people for 13 years now.

Sharing a similar experience he says, “We are very much affected by this uncertainty over the bifurcation. We are trying to stick around, but we are having thoughts about moving out,” he said, adding that there have been times when even a worker laying pipes outside his stall would talk to him curtly and call him names.

A few more who had moved to the city to earn a livelihood have already shut shop and gone back to their villages. One such couple now in huge debt is Bharatamma and Narasimha Reddy, who own the Raja Narasimha idli and dosa stall at LB Nagar.

“We moved to Hyderabad from Narsaraopet in Guntur over 20 years ago and started this stall here. But, of late, we are in huge debts, adding to that is this sudden feeling of not belonging to this place.” they said.